It felt like they had been walking for miles, occasionally taking a turn or curve. A few times they had to go up or down hand carved steps. There were pathways branching off from the main one, but Tuffnut strode forward without hesitation. He was clearly extremely familiar with the cave system. Astrid hadn't known that the Edge even HAD a tunnel system, let alone one this extensive.
"You didn't dig all of this… did you?" Astrid asked. She didn't even know they had tunneling dragons ON the Edge. "You'll understand everything soon." He said, and kept walking. Astrid vaguely wondered where the other tunnels led to, but Tuffnut took no interest in them.
"How do you know where you're going?" Astrid asked as they took another right turn. "I've spent quite a lot of time down here. It takes some time, but once you understand the system it actually makes a lot of sense. That tunnel ahead of us is tilted slightly downward, that means it leads to water." He pointed to a tunnel on the right and Astrid observed the slight slant it took before continuing forward.
"A sharper downward angle would mean it goes to a cave. Like that one over there." He pointed to a tunnel on the left that seemed to dive into the earth before flattening out. He pointed to a tunnel with a switchback that twisted so that she couldn't see where it led. "That one goes to a nursery."
Astrid was left to wonder, a nursery for what? Whatever made these tunnels was clearly very large, and any tunneling dragon that large most likely wasn't going to be friendly. Just as Astrid was wishing Fishlegs was there to tell her the stats of a dragon that large, she felt the ground tremble slightly beneath her feet.
Tuffnut turned towards her and embraced her, whispering rapidly into her ear. "Astrid, I NEED you to trust me on this. Don't make any sudden movements. In fact, don't do anything at all. Don't move." With that, he let her go and turned to face the direction an ominous rumbling was coming from as the ground began to shake even more.
Astrid wanted to pull him back. She wanted both of them to run back to the safe part of the tunnel. She wanted to do ANYTHING but stand here and wait for whatever was coming. She reached into her hair for the hidden knife but instead found silky blade-less locks. She had never replaced the knife after the bath.
She felt her ankle for her boot knife but found the concealed sheath empty. When he had cleaned her cloths he must have slipped out the blade as well. She had trusted Tuffnut and once again she was defenseless and at his mercy.
If this was a Loki trick, it would be the last one ever played. Getting her to waltz into a dragons den completely weaponless. Astrid buried her face in the back of his blouse and waited for her inevitable death.
A/N: The Skrillrider, Katurdi and I am Moonsong, you are more delightful than a new blossom in a barren field. Thank you for your continual support!